1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle control apparatus, a vehicle, and a motor, and in particular, to transmission control in a twin clutch type vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a twin clutch type vehicle has been known (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-251456). A twin clutch type vehicle includes two clutches mounted downstream of the engine to individually receive an output torque from the engine and two dog clutch type transmission mechanisms mounted downstream of the respective clutches and including a common output shaft. In a gear change period, switching control to switch transmission paths of output torque from one clutch and transmission mechanism to another clutch and transmission mechanism and rotation control to change the rotation speed of the engine by ensuring a difference between the output torque of the engine and the torque capacity of the clutch are executed.
In a vehicle, such as a motorcycle or the like, a driver who is used to a manual transmission may unconsciously perform an operation that temporarily closes the accelerator during an up-shift or an operation that temporarily opens the accelerator during a down-shift. These operations are referred to as a blipping operation.
In a twin clutch type vehicle, although a blipping operation by a driver is unnecessary as any clutch remains engaged and the rotation speed of the engine is changed under rotation control, a blipping operation may be performed. For example, when a blipping operation to close the accelerator is performed during an up-shift, an output torque from the engine will decrease, which may cause a shock due to the change from a driving state to a driven state. Meanwhile, when a blipping operation to open the accelerator is performed during a down-shift, an output torque from the engine will increase, which may cause a shock due to the change from a driven state to a driving state. Note here that a driving state refers to a state in which an output torque from the engine to a transmission path is larger than a load torque input from the transmission path to the engine, and a driven state is the opposite state.
In order to prevent the occurrence of a shock due to a blipping operation in a gear change period, there is a method to prevent a throttle valve opening degree from following an accelerator operation amount during a gear change period. According to this method, however, in a case that the driver's operation of the accelerator is not a blipping operation, the throttle valve opening degree may be delayed in following the accelerator operation after the end of a gear change period.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H06-330777 describes that a throttle valve opening degree is made not to follow an accelerator operation amount in order to maintain a power-on state (a state in which an output torque is greater than a load torque) during a down-shift. That is, the throttle valve opening degree is fixed as the change from the power-on state to the power-off state is likely caused when a down-shift immediately before the vehicle stops is conducted near the boundary between the power-on state and the power-off state and the rotation speed of the engine increases as a result. That is, the objective in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H06-330777 differs from an objective in the above described blipping operation. Moreover, it is unlikely that a driver performs a blipping operation in the automatic transmission described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H06-330777.